While having dinner with Shae’s aunt when staying in Houghton, MI, she mentioned Lakenenland sculpture park in Marquette as being worth a visit.
It was a couple of hours from Houghton, so it sounded like the perfect spot to stop for lunch and stretch our legs on our way to Traverse City for the Cherry Festival. We ended up stopping for lunch a few miles earlier at Lake Superior Roadside Park as it was such a beautiful spot, but then we continued a few minutes down the road to check out Lakenenland.
If we hadn’t already stopped for lunch, there was a large covered picnic area we could’ve used, as well as a separate much smaller covered seating area.
At the front of the park there’s a fishing pond, plus there’s another fishing pond elsewhere in the park.
Ultimately though, you’re there for the art. Lakenenland has a half-mile long art trail which is a dirt road running through the park. You can choose to either drive your car along the trail or you can walk it. As you can see in the photo below, if you have an RV that has to be parked as the trail can’t accommodate vehicles of that size.
One of the nice things about Lakenenland is that it’s very pet-friendly provided your pup is on a leash. We had our dog Truffles with us, so it was nice that she was able to join us on the walk along the trail.
Lakenenland is the work of Tom Lakenen. He’s a construction worker who’s used reclaimed iron from construction sites to create more than 100 sculptures for the sculpture park bearing his name.
The artwork is quirky but fun and the park is open 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.
One of my favorite pieces was the Rusty Chain Band and the crowd of characters dancing in front of them.
It’s free to visit Lakenenland, although they do accept donations.
This next one was another of my favorite sculptures that we saw there.
It didn’t take too long to walk the length of the art trail, so it’s a great spot to stop and stretch your legs while driving through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Address
Lakenenland, 2800 M-28 East, Marquette, MI 49855
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